branding yourself, social media and your job hunt, women in film chicago 2.16.12

RecruitaStar, LLC, 200 S. Wacker Dr., Suite 3100, Chicago, IL 60606

Branding Yourself, Social Media and Your Job Hunt

Women In Film Chicago

February 16, 2012

Presented by Toby Nathan, Principal at RecruitaStar, LLC, [email protected]


Co-founder and Principal of RecruitaStar, LLC (www.recruitastar.com), a Chicago based business partner and a recruitment support provider that takes on a company’s upfront part of the hiring process.

Fourteen (14) years retained executive search experience.

Fourteen (14) years experience in the health care industry where I served as a senior human resources manager with a special emphasis on recruitment, compensation and benefits. I have extensive experience partnering with organizations and hiring executives to assist them with their recruitment needs, and identify what they look for in a candidate for a position.

Assisted thousands of people with their career search, developed/enhanced resumes and helped define their personal brand, taught interviewing best practices, and helped develop a customized job search strategy.

Worked with individuals from a variety of industries and functional areas, including, but not limited to human resources, accounting & finance, operations, sales and marketing, and management consulting.

BS in Psychology and Business Administration from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana; MS in Industrial Relations from Loyola University.

My Background


◦ Why is branding the key to effectively selling yourself online as well as offline.

◦ Develop a strategy that meets your objectives for building your brand

◦ Easy, practical ideas and online communities to best build your online presence.

Agenda: What will you Learn?


Poll

WHAT ABOUT YOU?

WHAT PLATFORMS DO YOU CURRENTLY USE?

Do you have a LinkedIn profile? Yes or No

Do you have a Facebook profile? Yes or No

Do you have a Twitter account? Yes or No

Do you have a blog? Yes or No

Do you have your own website? Yes or No

Do you have a newsletter? Yes or No


What is Personal Branding?

1 Source: Dan Schawbel, Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success (Kaplan, April 09)


If you Google your name periodically - what comes up? Does it best represent your brand? “Brand equity = the sum total and composition of your search results.” 1

1 Source: Peter Blackshaw, EVP, Nielsen Online, author of Satisfied Customers Tell Three Friends, Angry Customers Tells 3000.


1 Source: William Arruda and Kirsten Dixson, Career Distinction: Stand Out by Building Your Brand, (Wiley, June 2007).

Check your (Google Quotient).

http://www.onlineidcalculator.com/digitalscale.html

The online identity calculator measures the effectiveness of your online identity and places you on our digital scale. Knowing where you stand today will help you determine exactly how much work you have to do and your next steps.

Unless you are already digitally distinct, you'll need to do some work on building your brand online.

Where you fall on the digital scale is based on a combination of volume and relevance. How many results do you get? How many of those web pages actually pertain to you? Do the references to you on the Web communicate a positive, negative or neutral image of you? How consistently do those results communicate what you want to be known for — your personal brand?


Before developing your reputation strategy, create a compelling and unique BRAND IDENTITY. To start your thinking about how to develop your brand identity, consider these three questions:

1.What are people going to rely on you for? This is your VALUE ROPOSITION. What value are you consistently offering in your profession or area of expertise? Are you delivering high-quality human capital management insights or are you positioning your clients ahead of the curve? Defining value proposition is important in understanding how to position your brand.

2.What is your unique selling point? Determine what makes coming to you a better experience than going to one of your many competitors or makes you an industry leader.

3.Develop your voice. Are you an innovative alternative in your company? Imagine your brand as a person.

Brand Identity and Perception Development


Does My Online Brand Really Matter?

Careerbuilder.com states: “One-in-Five Employers Use Social Networking Sites to Research Job Candidates”.

•77% of executive recruiters use search engines to research applicants.

•59% of hiring managers are influenced by your online reputation.

•53% of American adults use search engines to find information about each other.

Source: “Social Media Recruiting Starfish” is from Jobs in Pods.


First and foremost it puts YOU in charge of your “digital footprint”. Google is the new resume. The Web is forever. Your professional image/headline is already created. It is a matter of taking charge, marketing it and building a solid reputation in your industry!

• Establishing credibility and visibility in your field is essential in building meaningful relationships and elevating your online presence.

Today’s business climate is too competitive not to create your brand and you need to keep pace with your competition. Not only can your online footprint give you that edge you need when someone comes looking for you, but effectively marketing yourself on the Internet can actually bring great opportunities to you. There are many success stories of people who’ve been discovered on the Internet and created viable businesses around their passion.

When you have a job, you typically don’t talk about your personal brand like you would when “selling” yourself in an interview or at a career fair or event. However, we forget that we still communicate our unique and differentiating value to those with whom we interact with every day. Doing this allows you to differentiate and position yourself from the competition and help you reinforce your job.

To meet people who could become potential business partners, clients, mentors, referrals, or just friends.

Why Build a Personal Brand?


Tools to Build/Promote Your Brand

• Create a blog.

• Create a website. and submit it to major search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing, AltaVista, Lycos for example).

• Create a newsletter about your field, areas of expertise and to the personal brand you are creating. Constant Contact is an easy and economical option to create one. A newsletter can be linked to your blog-meaning your blog can feed the newsletter. The feed can be set to deliver whenever you post to your blog. There are also several services out there that will take your blog and turn it into your newsletter.

• Set up branded profiles on social/professional networks (LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook). Create your own “Group” on LinkedIn or join industry related ones to increase your visibility, network, find resources and share information with other like-minded individuals in the "Discussion Tabs". 100 Personal Branding Experts To Follow on Twitter in 2010: altaeeblog.com/100-personal-branding-experts-to-follow-on-twitter-in-2010/

55 Top Job Search Experts To Follow on Twitter: executivecareerbrand.com/55-top-job-search-experts-to-follow-on-twitter/


Tools to Build/Promote Your Brand

•Create a Google profile.

•Create a Wikipedia profile. As a first-stop online research platform, Wikipedia is an excellent tool for establishing credibility-as you can create targeted inbound links to your site. Actively contributing to this online encyclopedia can drive readers seeking more information about your expertise.

•Set up a profile on the following directories: Ziggs, Zoominfo, Jigsaw, Spoke.

•Get published on a topic, author and submit business/industry related articles for publication or post to an industry leading blog.

•Teach classes or hold free talks. Contact your local university and offer to hold a free lunch-time seminar on your core area of expertise. Alternately, offer to run free classes. Even if you aren’t offered a spot without pay, you can usually hire un-booked lecture theatres by the hour.


Online Networking: Building Relationships and Making Connections Business / Professional Networks

•www.linkedin.com – 150 Million+ users•www.xing.com - 7 Million+ users – mainly Intl

•www.jigsaw.com - 29 Million+ business contacts•www.naymz.com - Monitors online reputation

•www.zoominfo.com - 47 Million people•www.spoke.com - 40 Million+ users

Online Address Book Management•www.unyk.com - 31 Million users

Social Networks•www.facebook.com - 800 Million+ users

•www.myspace.com - 200+ Million+ users – taken over by Facebook in 2008. On June 29, 2011, Myspace was sold to Specific Media and Justin Timberlake for approximately $35 million.

•www.Plaxo.com – 8 Million+ users•www.twitter.com - 300 Million+ users

People Search Engines •www.pipl.com - Deep web people search

•www.wink.com - People search engine


Social Media Segmentation Social Media Sites = Newest Job Boards

Public Social/Business Networks & Contacts:Advertising Channels:

Thought Sharing and Media: Targeted Push/Pull:

Conduits

StumbleUpon


Ranking Website April 2011 (Monthly Visitors)

Users/Members

1. Facebook.com 550,000,000 800+ million

2. Twitter.com 95,800,000 200 million

3. MySpace.com 80,500,000 200+ million

4. LinkedIn.com 50,000,000 150 million

5. Ning.com 42,000,000 22 million

6. Tagged.com 30,000,000 100 million

7. Classmates.com 29,000,000 50+ million

8. hi5.com 27,000,000 NA

9. myyearbook.com 12,000,000 25 million

10. Meetup.com 8,000,000 NA

Top 10 Social/Professional Networking Sites (by Visitors & Users/Members)1

1 Source: ebizMBA rank


Your list of Connections can then be used in a number of ways:

(c

Building your brand and profile: You define terms of what people think when they think of you and see your profile.

Expanding your network: Your contact network is built up based on your direct connections, the connections of each of their connections (termed second degree connections) and also the connections of second degree connections (termed third degree connections). This can be used to gain an introduction to someone you wish to know through a mutual, trusted contact.

2-Way Recommendations: Reflects the recommender as well as the person s/he’s recommending.

Looking for jobs, people and business opportunities: Employers list jobs and search for potential candidates. Job seekers can review the profile of hiring managers and discover which of their existing contacts can introduce them.

Researching an array of information: The feature LinkedIn Answers, similar to Google or Yahoo! Answers, allows users to ask questions for the community to answer.

Searching LinkedIn Groups: This feature allows users to establish new business relationships by joining alumni, industry, or professional and other relevant groups.

Key Facts: 150 Million Professionals!


How to Build a Community

•After you create a profile and develop a network of more than 20 connections, LinkedIn allows you to close the Build Your Network box by clicking the Close (x) button that appears on the upper-right corner.

•For an alternate way to access these network-building tools, click the Add Connections button on the left navigation menu.

•This box offers links to four easy ways to start developing your LinkedIn network.

These include:Importing your webmail contacts from services such as Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, AOL, etc.Importing your address book contacts from Microsoft Outlook, ACT, Palm devices, or Apple Mail.Searching for current and former colleagues by company, job, title, and years of employment.Searching for current and former classmates by school and years of attendance.


Adding a Profile Photo

• Adding a photo helps bring your profile to life• Sets you apart from other LinkedIn members• Confirms who you are – especially if there are other members with the same

name.

NO!YES!


Participation in Group Discussions

You can comment on a discussion taking place in your group by taking the following steps:

Click on "Groups" found in the top navigation bar of the home page. This will take you to the "My Groups" page. Click on the group name from the dropdown list. This will take you to the group "Discussions" page. Hover your cursor over a discussion on the group home page. This will reveal the available actions for that discussion. Click on "Comment" to add a comment. Enter your comment into the text field (4000 character limit). A check box is defaulted to send you an email for each new comment. Click on the "Add Comment" button. You can also click on the "Like" action item in the discussion and then add your comment. The ability to "Share" may not be available for all discussion

threads. LinkedIn Groups are private forums and the feature does not allow you to forward discussions outside of the group.tn Discussions


Participation in Group Discussions

Here is where you

would post a discussion.

See sample…


Requesting and Providing Recommendations

•LinkedIn enables you to request and provide recommendations from your contacts in your professional network.•Recommendations are a powerful tool, so consider whom you want to ask carefully to help you achieve your networking goals.•LinkedIn offers four types of recommendations:

Colleague: You work with this person at the same time as a manager, peer, or employee.Business Partner: You worked with this person in another capacity – NOT as a colleague or client. For example, you worked at partner co’s, or performed association or volunteer work together.Student: You were a fellow student, teacher, or advisor at the same school.Service Provider: You hired this person to perform services. Service Provider recommendations differ from the other recommendation types in that they appear in the LI Service Providers directory.


Groups with Job Postings

To view job postings for a group you belong to, you can:

Click the Groups link on the expanded navigation menu. On the My Groups page, select Go to Jobs in the preview box of your target group. The group opens with the Jobs tab selected.

Click the actual group link on the expanded left navigation menu or the group logo on your profile to open the group page. Then, click the Jobs tab.


Groups with Job Listings


Groups with Job Listings

View Discussion’s

tab also for job

postings…


Attracting Recruiting and Hiring Managers

LinkedIn is a great tool for jobseekers, however, you need to create a stellar profile and develop a solid network if you want to maximize your results!

Tips for making the most of LI as a “Job” search tool:

Complete your profile. LI reports that members with a complete profile generate 40 times more opportunities than those whose profiles aren’t complete.Develop a solid network of connections. Your ability to use JobsInsider or Inside Connections depends on having a reasonable number of connections. For these tools, you should aim for at least 50 connections.Get recommendations. A complete profile includes at least three recommendations. Aim for ones from managers, executives, or actual clients. Peer references – the ones you trade with carry far less weight.Include key words that are relevant to your profession and industry. Recruiters search for these words and your profile should indicate them to be found.


Attracting Recruiting and Hiring Managers

Tips for making the most of LI as a “Job” search tool continued:

Focus on RESULTS, not a list of job duties. Remember your LI profile is a concise summary of your qualifications and skills.Post your resume, CV, or portfolio. Use LI applications such as Box.net Files, and you can attach PDF’s to your profile too.If you are unemployed, indicate that you are seeking employment on your profile.

Tip: Keep in mind that recruiters search on the Web for background information on potential candidates. So if you have a professional presence on other sites, make sure they all reinforce your professional image and are consistent with your LI profile.


Job Seeker User Guide on LinkedIn

The LinkedIn Learning Center offers a "Job Seeker" Users Guide that displays various tips to help you best utilize LinkedIn for your job search needs.

Click on "Learning Center" from the "More" dropdown menu (found in the top navigation bar of the home page). User Guides are found at the bottom left side of the Learning Center page along with other articles and video tutorials on how you can use LinkedIn to its fullest potential.


Job Search Feature


Job Search Feature

Narrow down

your job search here…


Job Search Feature

Pulled up first job listing…

Apply directly

here.

A connection can

refer you…


Advanced Job Search Feature

Click the down arrow next to the Jobs link on the top navigation bar. You can also open this page by clicking the Advanced Job Search tab on the main Jobs page from the search box on the top navigation bar. In the Search For text box, enter keywords such as job title, a skill, or for example a certification.Specify the criteria for your search. Options include:

LocationExperience Level (ranging from executive jobs to internships) Search Jobs Posted (the date the job was posted, such as in the last day or at any time)Sort Search Results by (specific criteria such as date posted or location)Job TitleCompany NameJob Function (such as Finance, Marketing, Sales)Industry (such as Computer Software, Banking, or Insurance)


Newest Features on LinkedIn:

LinkedIn Today – Most Shared News shared or tweeted – shown on your “Home Page”: Take a look at a list of industries and sources. Follow the ones that matter to you to customize your Front Page. Included are Management Consulting industry, IT industry and Marketing & Advertising industry.

By default, LinkedIn gives your profile a wonky URL with a bunch of numbers and letters. To help clean it up, you can choose a custom URL for your public profile. This will help Google bring your name up in search, plus it makes you look more reputable to people searching for someone with your skill set.

LinkedIn has a handy tool that will build your resume from your content in your profile. Check out http://resume.linkedinlabs.com/. You pick a resume template, customize the content, and print.

Apply with LinkedIn button – to be launched and recently announced.


LinkedIn Statistics1:

1 Source: Sales Konnect and LinkedIn

Median age is 41 years old

Average household income is $140,000

Average LinkedIn user has 63 connections

Over 1,128,230 groups are offered via LinkedIn (As of December 6, 2011)

LinkedIn is used by 69 of the Fortune 100 companies

Number of people searches in 2010 was 2 billion

1 million new users every 12 days


Key Facts: 300 Million Users

What is it?: Twitter allows its users to send and read other users' updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length. Twitter provides opportunities for keeping current in your field and for getting real time information on what is happening in various fields and companies.

How does it work?: Updates are displayed on the user's profile page and delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them. The sender can restrict delivery to those in his or her circle of friends. Users can receive updates via the Twitter website, email or through an application such as Tweetie, TwitterFon, Twitterrific, witterfific, Feealizr, or Facebook.

Twitter is adding 15 million users per month.

Getting Started on Twitter: http://support.twitter.com/


Searching For Jobs on Twitter

Companies and job sites post job openings on Twitter, and job seekers use Twitter to help facilitate their job search.

Twitter can be an effective part of your job search strategy. Used in conjunction with LinkedIn, job search engines, and other job sites, Twitter can help you make connections, find job listings, and build a personal brand that will help boost your career and expedite your job search.


Searching for jobs on Twitter

Follow job search experts to get tips and advice on job searching and the latest job search news. If you have a list of companies you'd like to work for, be sure to follow the career page, watch for job listings, and retweet their tweets, so the recruiters are aware of your presence of Twitter. You can use Twitter to showcase your expertise in your field. Use your status updates to tweet about industry topics, tips, advice. You don't have to be original – you can tweet articles from the web or retweet relevant posts.

Use JobDeck (free) which scours twitter; indexing tweets that are jobs, and filtering out the rest, thus providing jobseekers with the tools necessary to find meaningful, relevant job opportunities.

This makes it even easier to search for jobs and connecting you with your contacts across Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and more.


Searching for jobs on Twitter

JobShouts.com - Companies can post jobs for free on JobShouts (@jobshouts), those jobs are then tweeted to users on Twitter.

Tweetajob.com - Sign up to receive tweets (@tweetajob) with job postings that match your interests and locations.

TweetMyJobs.com - TweetMyJobs (@tweetmyjobs) is the largest Twitter job board. It includes 6,500+ vertical job channels segmented by geography, job type, and industry.

TwitJobSearch.com - Search for jobs listed on Twitter with TwitJobSearch.com.

This makes it even easier to search for jobs and connecting you with your contacts across Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and more.


The World is Obsessed with Facebook…YouTube Video

1 Source: Compete.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJXOavGwAW8


Key Facts about how Facebook from a recruiters perspective:

Facebook is now the most visited place on the web, outpacing Google late last year (2010) according to ERE – Electronic Recruiting Exchange. (800+ Million Users)

As candidates spend more time on the world’s most popular social networking site, it makes sense that recruiters would use Facebook for hiring and recruitment.

Because Facebook is a fairly closed network it can make direct sourcing a challenge for recruiters. Depending on the users security settings, visitors are allowed certain access making sourcing on this platform somewhat difficult. Even still, there are ways that recruiters grow their candidate pool, source, and fill positions using Facebook.

Recruiters promote their job openings and career opportunities through owning and managing a group or community network. Much like LinkedIn Groups, a Facebook group is a great option to provide value, content, and information about an industry or area where they are looking to fill positions regularly over a period of time. Recruiters create a community that is location based, industry focused, or a specific position.


Key Facts about how Facebook from a recruiters perspective:

A great way recruiters alert their network about openings is through a Facebook Fan or Business Page. They can establish an RSS feed of their job postings to their page or they can post the links directly to their wall. Either way visitors to their page can find and apply for a job opportunity that works for them. As candidates spend more time on the world’s most popular social networking site, it makes sense that recruiters would use Facebook for hiring and recruitment.

Recruiters use “Facebook Marketplace” to find candidates. It’s no cost marketing that is searchable and when an opening is posted, it alerts their network via email.


Create and update a blog (personal or professional) where your name is mentioned and doing it often should allow you to rank #1 in searches for your name, even if you only update with one to two posts a month for something that helps secure your personal brand. Blog so people get to know you!

Today blogs are mainstream and used by all types of professions, political campaigns, and celebrities. They provide value, acceptance by our society (and mainstream media), and the ability to form a community to connect to others in a fraction of the time you could have done it before.

Getting Started - Blog Hosting Options:

I recommend Wordpress.com for the beauty of its templates. It is free, easy to use, ranks high in Google, provides a support forum for the product, and you get your own URL. You may want to study your HTML skills before you write a blog. There are various sites such as W3 Schools that can provide tutorials for you.

Blogger (www.blogger.com) is a free hosting service provided and run by Google. It offers fewer templates and getting started is pretty easy.

Create a Blog:


Tips:

Buy an easy-to-remember, easy-to-spell, content-appropriate domain name if you can. A really nice layout doesn’t have to cost a lot, but shows you’re more than a social media dabbler. Your “About” page should be about YOU and your professional expertise. Use easy to read fonts and colors. Make sure it’s easy to comment on your site. Make sure it’s easy for people to subscribe to your site’s content. Pay attention to which widgets you use in your sidebar. Don't be extravagant. Test your blog when you make changes, and ensure your load times are reasonable. Register your site with all the top search engines. Claim your site on Technorati.com. Use WebsiteGrader.com to make sure your site is well built in Google’s eyes.

Create a BlogBlogging is the new branding!

Blogs are a cheap way to market yourself!


•Your title (slogan or tagline) is attractive and relates to the content of your blog.

•Your content is worthy of notice by others and your blog makes people want to hire you.

•Your blog provides ideas, thoughts, original research on a topic, and tools. Content shows that you are, a true expert or thought leader, or simply well-informed and current in your topic areas. Your blog differentiates the level of your specialization.

•Your content displays integrity, character, philosophy, values, humor, and/or personality, or just plain old wisdom.

•Your blog attracts media or trade-related attention. Content that is exceptional quality, insightful, creative, positions you as an expert. The blog is quote-worthy and you are SOUGHT OUT to contribute your thought leadership in other ways such as speaking, articles, etc.

Definition of a Blog That Increases Your Value

“For those that embrace these new personal branding tools, ‘Google me’ is the new business card and thus, the blog and social

network profile is the new resume. Unlike the interview process, where the resume or self-description can be ‘puffed’, the writings of

a long-term blog demonstrates more about the individual” 1

1 Source: Jeremiah Owyang, Senior Analyst, Forrester Research


Just as your resume says who you are, your website tells the same story. Gather testimonials, put it with your awards and accolades and take some time to write a professional bio.

Bravenet.com is a free solution with many different tools, such as a polling feature and guest book to help you get started.

I recommend you use Godaddy.com or Bluehost.com (fee based) to host and build your website. You can also use Microsoft Expressions Web, which is an easy to use website building software program, much like using Microsoft Word to build your website.

Depending on your strategy, your URL is going to be extremely important. Of course I would recommend that you purchase your domain name, yourname.com. If that isn’t available, try for yournameRESUME.com or the .net or .org equivalents, in that order. The newest one is .biz.

The objective of the URL is to have something you can freely promote and that people can remember.

Use the URL on your paper resume, on all of your social networks or other marketing materials.


Create a Google Profile

Go to the following URL and create your own Google Profile:

http://google.com/s/profiles/me


VisualCV.com

VisualCV.com – is an online version of your resume, but, like a portfolio, has much more - images, videos, and links to your accomplishments.

It is free and an excellent way to showcase your skillsand present your personal brand. You will be searchable on most search engines.


What is it?: Ziggs is an online community that encourages individuals to join and create personal profiles. Ziggs allows you to conduct searches for people, unlike LinkedIn which requires you to send out invites to build a network.

How does it work?: There are two types of profiles you will find on Ziggs.

◦ The first is a profile created by individuals who have registered and posted their bios on Ziggs to expand their networks.

◦ The second is a profile that Ziggs has culled from the web from personal profiles on company, organization and college Web sties, just to name a few.

Key Facts:


What is it?: ZoomInfo is a vertical search engine that focuses on people, companies, and the relationships among them. It allows users to collaborate in the construction of its content by contributing information to their own summaries or building new ones where none exists. ZoomInfo has partnerships with Reunion.com and XING to provide additional data.

How does it work?: There are two separate groups of people that ZoomInfo is primarily aimed at, and that would be searchers who are looking either for themselves or various people in their lives (friends, family, colleagues, etc.), or human resources who are looking to recruit their next employee.

Key Facts:


Key Facts:

What is it?: Jigsaw is a directory of business contacts and company information - a sort of gray market for Rolodex data.

How does it work?:

◦ It is built, maintained and “scrubbed” by users of the site.

◦ Its functionality is based on a points system that allows users to trade business contact information they have for contacts that they need.

◦ Once you join, you can conduct searches for individuals.


Key Facts:

What is it?: Spoke collects contacts from public information on the internet as well as member’s registrations and email directories.

How does it work?: Spoke pulls from your Outlook contact list to generate new names and you can opt out of this.


EzineArticles.com (well liked by Google and will get you found the fastest!)

SearchWarp.com

AuthorConnection.com

GoArticles.com

Develop Your Profile and Expert Status

Submit business/industry related articles to key web sites such as:


• Number of fans, followers or subscribers.

• Increase in conversions.

• Traffic from channel to site – many web statistic tools are incorporating social media into their offerings.

• Stronger brand image and/or customer relationships.

• Google page rank.

• Measuring ROI

What Does Success Look Like For Your Brand?


Track Your Presence Online

Google, Google.com/alerts: Email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic. You can subscribe to each alert through email and RSS. You set an alert, notifying you of stories, as they happen, for your name, your topic, and even your company. As your feed reader fills up with articles that match your query, you should start a database of bloggers and journalists so that you can market to them directly and form better relationships.

Blog Search Engines, Technorati.com or http://www.Blogsearch.google: If you have a blog, then you have to be on Technorati, which is the largest blog search engine in the world. When you register with it, Technorati tracks "blog reactions," or blogs that link to yours. You search for your name on Technorati, and subscribe to RSS alerts so that when someone blogs about you, you find out. Use Technorati to log every blog that is linking to your own. Keep track of these blogs, and when you write your next post link to them. Doing so will give recognition to those who have recognized yours.

Twitter, search.twitter.com: Twitter is a micro blogging service, hosting over three million people. You can locate any instances of your name and tweet back. As you see tweets with your name attached to them, you should use the "@" sign and the tweeter's account name (@recruitastar) to respond appropriately. As you respond, you start to build brand recognition and your audience feels that you care and are actively listening.

-


Online Brand & Reputation Management

Naymz.com, Sign up or invite people to write reviews about you and your work. You can import your LinkedIn profile data to your Naymz profile. My favorite.Rapleaf.com, Look up your reputation, rate others, and they will be invited to rate you in return.RepVine.com, Reference and reputation management combined.ReputationDefender.com, Service that attempts to help you getting things online said about you removed.


Important Tips to Remember


U R A Brand! How Smart People Brand Themselves for Success- by Catherine Kaputa

Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success- by Dan Schawbel

The Brand You 50: Transform Yourself from an ‘Employee’ into a Brand That Shouts Commitment, and Passion! - by Tom Peters

Stand Out! Branding Strategies for Business Professionals - by Simon Vetter

Branding Phenomenon - by Peter Montoya

Self-Marketing Power: Branding Yourself As a Business of One - by Jeff Beals

Blogging For Dummies - by Susannah Gardner

Recommended Books


Social Media Tools

TweetDeck - http://tweetdeck.com/ - An amazing Twitter client that allows you to sort your tweets into replies, topics, groups, keywords, etc. You can even filter the results.

HootSuite - http://hootsuite.com/ - In my opinion, the coolest and most powerful suite of Twitter tools out there. Track your stats, manage multiple Twitter accounts, monitor your brand, schedule tweets, update all your social networks and much more.

FriendOrFollow - http://friendorfollow.com/ - Find out A) - who's following you that you're not following back, and B) - who you're following that isn't following you back.

Twitter Tools - http://alexking.org/projects/wordpress - WordPress plug-in that allows you to pull your tweets to your blog. It can also update your Twitter status every time you post.

Qwitter - http://useqwitter.com/ - Are you losing a lot of followers? This fantastic tool can help you understand why.


1 Source: Four Valuable (but Free) Smart Phone Apps for Job Seekers, Lisa Johnson Mandel, AOLJobs.com, 5.12.11

Recommended Mobile Phone Apps for Job Seekers 1

Job Search (Free for the Android) - Find jobs from your Android phone with Indeed.com, a comprehensive search engine for jobs. In a single search, Indeed offers free access to millions of jobs from thousands of company websites and job boards.

Mployd Job Search (Free for the Apple iPhone) - Find Jobs on your iPhone or iPod Touch or iPad with this powerful job search engine. The Mployd Job Search Application allows you to find jobs in an intuitive and simple way.

Real Time Jobs (Free for the Apple iPhone) - In a single search, this app allows a job seeker to search hundreds of thousands of job offers, view a job description, and apply for their ideal jobs. Using the world's first real-time job search engine coupled with sophisticated QuickPitch technology, the app helps job seekers get an early jump on the best jobs.

Search Jobs Beyond (Free for the BlackBerry) - The application allows users to search thousands of jobs across more than 25 industries by location and keyword, as well as review detailed job descriptions, save jobs to a list of favorites and even share jobs with friends.

Also check out 10 cool mobile apps for jobseekers at http://www.risesmart.com/blog/10-cool-mobile-apps-for-jobseekers.


Final Questions, Closing Thoughts (Toby Nathan)

Closing and Questions

Please don’t forget to link with me to grow your network on LinkedIn or

Twitter!

www.linkedin.com/in/tobyrnathanhttp://twitter.com/tobyrnathan

[email protected]

Please don’t forget to link with me to grow your network on LinkedIn or

Twitter!

www.linkedin.com/in/tobyrnathanhttp://twitter.com/tobyrnathan

[email protected]

branding yourself, social media and your job hunt, women in film chicago 2.16.12

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